Heavy equipment is a central part of both civilian and military operations. Typically this equipment includes such things as bulldozers, excavators, tanks, armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery, cranes, dump trucks, and other equipment often weighing several tons. Generally, this heavy equipment is self-propelled and moves over the ground via such things as wheels or treads. However, the heavy equipment is typically limited to traveling at slow to medium speeds, and/or may be of a weight or configuration that operation of the equipment on conventional roadways can substantially damage the roadway. For example, steel treads are well known in their ability to deform and/or fracture asphalt and concrete roadways. Furthermore, the heavy equipment is often normally operated in locations which are remote to finished roadways. For example, both civilian and military equipment may be operated in woodland, desert, tundra, and beach environments.
While being operated, heavy equipment is often damaged or suffers from various system failures that require that it be transported from its operational environment to a repair facility. Heavy equipment may also be required to be moved between operational environments hundreds or thousands of miles apart. Trailer and tractor truck combinations are often utilized to transport the heavy equipment from one location to another. Conventionally, the trailers are attached by a fifth wheel hitch to the tractor truck. These conventional trailers utilize such things as ramps that allow the heavy equipment to either be driven onto the trailer or to be winched/pushed up onto the trailer. However, these conventional trailers have several drawbacks. Typically, these trailers are constructed such that they have minimal ground clearance. This minimal ground clearance severely limits their use in off road operational environments since the trailer may strike obstacles or become high-centered.
In addition, conventional trailers often require a complete fifth wheel hitch assembly; in particular, the hitch assembly requires all the functional components which allow it to be connected to the fifth wheel hitch of a tractor truck. This results in trailers being extremely heavy and may inhibit deployment of the trailer into, for example, military operational areas by a cargo plane. In addition, conventional trailers cannot be reconfigured efficiently, thereby requiring a specific trailer to be utilized with a specific class of heavy equipment.
Furthermore, these conventional trailers also present an obstacle to easily loading the heavy equipment for the simple fact that the ramps, in order to be efficiently included, are typically of a short length. The short length results in a relatively steep angle when the ramps are deployed. The steep angle of the deployed ramps is difficult for heavy equipment to negotiate in reaching the trailer transport surface. This is especially true in areas where the deployed ramps rest on soft or sandy ground since the ramps will sink into the ground during deployment and loading.
In addition, conventional trailers, while allowing operation on finished roadways, are typically not rugged enough to permit repeated operation in environments where heavy equipment is being operated. Typically, when heavy equipment must be moved to another location, it is operated under its own power to a location suitable for the trailer. However, when the equipment has malfunctioned, a retrieval vehicle, such as a tow truck or heavy equipment retriever, is needed to pull or push the heavy equipment to the location for trailer pick-up. This often results in long delays and high costs.
Furthermore, conventional trailers are often not suited for air transport. For example, conventional trailer tractor combinations typically have a ground clearance, length, weight, and/or other features which prevent the combination from being loaded into a cargo aircraft compartment, for example a C130 air transport.
Military operational areas additionally pose significant disadvantages and dangers to conventional trailers. For instance, military equipment is often transported through very rough terrain, and is often subjected to the effects of enemy weaponry such as mines, grenades, improvised explosives, and other ordinance. Conventional trailers generally have a deck on which the heavy equipment rests. This deck presents a substantially contiguous covering over the entire trailer surface. This type of closed deck presents a horizontal surface that encounters enormous forces from blasts and detonations. These forces may cause conventional trailers, in either their loaded or unloaded configuration, to be severely damaged and/or to be overturned.